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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Poland’s parliament has approved a government bill that would extend support for Ukrainian refugees. However, the measures would also make continued access to certain social benefits for foreigners conditional upon recipients being in employment.
The bill now passes to opposition-aligned President Karol Nawrocki, who vetoed an earlier version because it did not include such conditionality.
Zakończyło się 41. posiedzenie #SenatRP zwołane w trybie pilnym.
Senatorowie przyjęli 4 ustawy:
✅o pomocy dla uchodźców z Ukrainy
✅o bonie ciepłowniczym
✅o zapasach ropy i gazu w dzisiejszych czasach
✅o świadczeniach pieniężnych dla służb mundurowych.
Senat wyraził… pic.twitter.com/Zxmd1IIaf7
— Senat RP 🇵🇱 (@PolskiSenat) September 17, 2025
Nawrocki issued his veto in late August, sparking concerns that, if a replacement was not passed quickly, the almost one million Ukrainian refugees still in Poland would be left without support once current measures expire at the end of September.
On Tuesday last week, the government – a coalition ranging from left to centre-right – approved a bill extending support for Ukrainian refugees. But it also made family-related benefits for foreigners conditional on adults being “economically active” and children attending school.
Exceptions will, however, be made for groups such as pensioners, disabled people, and people on parental leave, reports Business Insider Polska. People who register as unemployed will also still be able to receive child benefits for three months, or six if they have more than two children.
Meanwhile, the list of free medical treatments that Ukrainian refugees are not entitled to receive will be expanded to include dental treatment, endoprosthetic surgery, and cataract removal.
After the bill went to the Sejm, the more powerful lower house of parliament, the government’s majority rejected a series of amendments proposed by the national-conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party that would have added elements proposed by Nawrocki in a bill he presented to parliament immediately after his veto.
They included tougher penalties for people illegally crossing the border, extending the residence period needed for obtaining Polish citizenship from three to ten years, and introducing penalties for promoting the ideology of historical Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera.
On Friday evening, MPs from the ruling coalition approved the government’s version of the bill, while PiS and the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja), another opposition party, voted against it.
On Wednesday this week, the upper-house Senate – which can seek to amend or delay legislation but cannot overrule the Sejm – likewise approved the government’s version of the bill, again rejecting amendments proposed by PiS.
President Nawrocki has submitted his own bill on extending support for Ukrainian refugees to replace the one he vetoed.
It would make benefits conditional on employment and criminalise propagating the Ukrainian nationalist ideology of Stepan Bandera https://t.co/harYLw1M5Q
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) August 26, 2025
That means the bill now passes to Nawrocki, who can sign it into law, veto it, or send it to the constitutional court for assessment. For now, it remains unclear which option the president will choose.
Deputy interior minister Maciej Duszczyk warned that, if the bill is vetoed again, Poland will face “enormous chaos”. The speaker of the Senate, Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, likewise said that, “if the president doesn’t sign it, we will paralyse our country”, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
Lewiatan Confederation, an organisation representing employers, also told Business Insider Polska that the situation is creating great uncertainty for businesses that employ Ukrainians.
A recent UN report found that Ukrainian refugees boosted the size of Poland’s economy by 2.7% last year while not increasing unemployment or pushing down wages. Poland’s National Development Bank has also calculated that Ukrainians pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits.
Ukrainian refugees boosted Poland’s GDP by 2.7% last year while not raising unemployment or lowering wages, finds a report by the UN @Refugees agency and @Deloitte
"Whoever thinks refugees are a burden on the economy should think again," says @UNHCRPoland https://t.co/rOvtOvBNwG
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) June 12, 2025
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
